disneywarfandomcom-20200213-history
Blackbeard ( PotC )
Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who resides in the Pirates of the Carribbean world, and made a deal with the Friends on the Other Side. History and Description Legends claim that Blackbeard's real name was not definitely known, though he was often called "Edward Teach". It was believed that Edward Teach was born in Bristol, born in poverty and raised in squalor in the late 17th century. At an early age, Teach left Bristol aboard a merchantman, jumped ship in the Caribbean, and signed on board as a privateer. He served on an English privateer ship in the Queen Anne's War, sailing from Jamaica and fighting against the Spanishand the French in the Spanish West Indies and along the Spanish Main. When the war ended in 1713, King George decided to withdraw all Letters of Marque, and Teach found himself unemployed. Like many other former privateers, Teach decided to turn to piracy. He sailed for New Providence where he joined the pirate crew of captain Benjamin Hornigold. Soon, Teach earned Hornigold's trust and became the First Mate on his ship, the Ranger. While under Hornigold’s command, Blackbeard served with several men who would later become pirate captains, including Samuel Bellamy, Paulsgrave Williams, and Olivier Levasseur "La Buse". Blackbeard was exceptionally loyal to Hornigold, remaining in his pirate band after many others defected. He was given control of various prizes in 1716, but didn't receive his first truly independent command in September 1717. This was the Revenge, the sloop of the wayward gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet, who had shown up in Nassau grievously wounded. Blackbeard used her to attack shipping off the Carolinas, Virginia, and Delaware, then took a direct, offshore passage to the outer rim of the eastern Caribbean. On November 28, 1717, off the coast of Martinique, Teach captured La Concorde de Nantes, a French frigate on a slave trading voyage from Africa. La Concorde was the grandest and most elegant ship that Teach ever captured, so he decided to keep her for himself. Teach converted her into a pirate ship, increased the number of cannons to 38, and renamed her the Queen Anne's Revenge. He soon began to grow a long, thick, black beard, eventually assuming the cognomen: "Blackbeard". Unlike most pirates, who sailed under the traditional black Jolly Roger flag sporting a skull and crossbones, Blackbeard chose a completely unique symbol as his own variation. His flag depicted a skeleton of the devil holding a goblet of wine in one hand and a spear pointing to a bleeding heart in the other, as if he's toasting his victims. Such an intimidating flag was a clear message to his potential victims—they would all die if they don't surrender immediately. Thus fortified, Blackbeard's gang brought a wave of terror to the eastern Caribbean in late November and early December 1717, burning Guadeloupe town and most of the vessels at St. Kitts. Teach's next great battle was with the large British merchantman, the Great Allen, off the coast of St. Vincent. After a lengthy battle Blackbeard took the ship. The crew of the captured ship was sent to shore in the longboats, but the cargo was plundered, and the ship burned and left to sink. A few days later, near the island of St. Thomas, Blackbeard's small fleet encountered the HMS Seaford, a 22-gun sixth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy. The pirates raised the British flags, doing their best to look like simple merchant vessels. The British didn't see through the pirate deception, and let the small fleet pass undisturbed. This event would be later exaggerated as a full scale battle between the pirate fleet and one other Royal Navy vessel, the HMS Scarborough. In a repeatedly misinterpreted story the pirates were able to defeat the Scarborough and force her to escape back to Barbados. Though the story wasn't true, it helped to increase Blackbeard's notoriety. Category:Humans Category:Villains Category:Clients